We first started off with the wooden accent wall. We got a general idea of what to do from this blog except they used old pallets (which they ran into some issues with because of sanding and questioned whether the wood was treated and unsafe for a nursery). We decided to save money and use untreated cedar fence panels and age/stain the wood ourselves. We purchased 30 panels of the fencing, 10 pieces we stained with a gray wood stain, 10 were stained with a dark gray stain and 10 were aged using a solution of a steel wool pad soaked in vinegar (for 12 hours) that we painted on. The vinegar solution gave it a beautiful finish and was faster than we thought. After we cut the pieces to the correct heights (we used 3 different heights), we used a nail gun and nailed directly into the walls (as opposed to using plywood first). I marked studs, but we didn’t always hit the studs. We tested the strength of the nails into the drywall and they were pretty secure as is. The entire wall only took 3 hours and the cost of the wood was $60.

As for the crib, I didn’t want my husband spending so much time sanding down each individual crib slat so I decided to just purchased a used crib on Craigslist. We got ours for $80.

I knew we needed seating and I originally purchased an old wingback chair on Craigslist for $20, but when I realized it was just too small for the space, I started looking for a cheap rocker/glider. Luckily I came across BabiesRUs and found this upholstered glider and ottoman combo on sale for $299. When I called the store, there was only one more left and it was a floor model and was dirty, so the manager gave me 50% off. We drove 45 miles to pick it up, and I purchased the chair the same day I opened up a store credit card, which gave me 15% off and I was able to use an additional 20% off coupon. I ended up paying around $100 for the glider/ottoman combo, and all of the dirt came off pretty easily with a little Resolve spray.
We had saved our crib and changing table/dresser that we used with our first two children, but it was a honey oak color that just didn’t go with our decor. Since it was solid wood, my husband was nice enough to refinish the changing table/dresser in a same light gray stain that we used on the wall panels. I went searching at some antique stores for old drawer pulls and was able to buy different ones for about $3/each. I even had two more to use for the closet drawer unit.
For the rest of the walls, I purchased the Casablanca Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils and used Behr paint in #790E-3 (Porpoise) in semi-gloss (we primed the walls in white first). The walls took the longest because it was difficult keeping the stencil level (you really HAVE to use a level to make sure everything is aligned or you’ll end up spending more time fixing your mistakes). It was also so difficult to stencil the corners and edges, and near the end of my 18 hours, I started using a large plastic putty knife to hold down the stencil so I could do the edges and corners. The walls took me 18 hours (2 days), but only used about a half a gallon of paint.

The next big project was the closet. I knew from 2 previous children that we needed way more hanging space than just 1 rod and we also needed some storage space. After researching Pinterest, We decided on using 3 rods on each side with the storage unit in the middle (if needed, we could always move the rods up and down). First we removed the closet doors, shelf, rod, and then the framing of the closet and had to repair holes and the bottom baseboard that had a gap. Then we painted with the leftover porpoise gray paint. We were planning on building in the middle shelf unit ourselves, but I was really tired of painting and didn’t want to have to finish the unit, so we ended up purchasing the base unit of the STUVA storage system from Ikea (along with 2 large drawers and a couple of shelves). My husband built up a base (about 6 inches high) so that the shelf unit reached the top of the closet opening. We placed the rods as high up as we could, with 25” in between (and the bottom rod up off the floor about 30”). The shelf unit with the pre-painted rods cost us about $180.

We had saved our crib and changing table/dresser that we used with our first two children, but it was a honey oak color that just didn’t go with our decor. Since it was solid wood, my husband was nice enough to refinish the changing table/dresser in a same light gray stain that we used on the wall panels. I went searching at some antique stores for old drawer pulls and was able to buy different ones for about $3/each. I even had two more to use for the closet drawer unit.

As for the crib, I didn’t want my husband spending so much time sanding down each individual crib slat so I decided to just purchased a used crib on Craigslist. We got ours for $80.

I knew we needed seating and I originally purchased an old wingback chair on Craigslist for $20, but when I realized it was just too small for the space, I started looking for a cheap rocker/glider. Luckily I came across BabiesRUs and found this upholstered glider and ottoman combo on sale for $299. When I called the store, there was only one more left and it was a floor model and was dirty, so the manager gave me 50% off. We drove 45 miles to pick it up, and I purchased the chair the same day I opened up a store credit card, which gave me 15% off and I was able to use an additional 20% off coupon. I ended up paying around $100 for the glider/ottoman combo, and all of the dirt came off pretty easily with a little Resolve spray.

The frame collage wasn’t what I originally wanted. I had vintage looking resin frames that I collected and wanted to hang, but when we went to Michael’s looking for baskets for the closet, we found these laser-cut wooden frames on clearance and decided to use these instead (they’re lighter to hang and safer if they were to fall). With a little bit of metallic spray paint, some animal silhouette pictures that I printed from the computer, and a couple of wooden letters, we made this collage for around $40.

Our splurge on the room was definitely the crib bedding because I couldn’t find a cheap crib set with such a streamline look. I ended up purchasing the Harper Crib Bumper and Crib Skirt from Pottery Barn Kids and various gray/white crib sheeting (dots, chevron, elephant patterned) from Target.

Oh, and my husband found the rug on clearance at Lowe’s for $60. Not quite the pattern that I wanted, but WAY better than spending $500 on a same size rug from Pottery Barn Kids.

The room is still unfinished. We’re going to make a couple of various sized crates with the cedar wood fencing that will hang above the changing table dresser (to be used as shelves/storage). I still need to make a roman shade for the window, and I’ll be on the lookout for something cool to hang behind the glider (like an old lantern or something).

We figured that since we’re going big (and since Angelo is really in to reptiles right now), we’d have a reptile show! And we knew it would be blazing hot, so we made sure to have lots of water activities to keep the kids cool. And now for the pictures…

Of course we had to have a sweet treat station! Filled with Kraang’s Brain Blasters (strawberry puffs), Leonardo’s Katanas (green apple & pina colada twists), Bebop’s Chocolate Chip Taffy, Donatello’s Mini Chocolate Smoke Bombs (chocolate sixlets), Raphael’s Chigiriki Balls (gumballs), Splinter’s Green Apple Walking Sticks (hard candy sticks), and Rocksteady’s Coke Bottle Gummies. I printed cutouts of the comic book thought bubbles with different phrases on them and attached them to barbeque skewers so I could stick them in the candy jars.

I decided to just do green ombre cupcakes instead of an extravagant cake since cupcakes are just so much easier to do. My husband helped make the cupcake stands and the stands that were used to hold the fruit cups. We went to the comic book store and decoupaged the stands with the comic book pages. We only used 1 medium container of Mod Podge (purchased with a coupon at Michael’s for $7), and $12 in scrap wood from Home Depot to make all 4 stands.

For the centerpieces, I printed 2-sided cutouts of characters (Shredder, Kraang, Bebop, Leatherhead, Rocksteady, Casey Jones and Splinter), adhered them to wooden dowels, and stuck them in boxes that I hot glued foam in the center of so the dowels would stay in place. The boxes were paper treat boxes I had purchased a long time ago on clearance for $0.50/each (I like to buy things in large quantities when they’re really cheap..I’ve used those boxes to hold favors for class holiday parties, etc). I took pieces of the comic book pages and just taped them around the box,  looked up a tutorial for tissue paper pom-poms and stuck the pom-poms in the box to cover the foam. Took a little bit of time, but it was so inexpensive to make which was totally worth it!

Let’s not forget the refreshments! Casey Jones’ Sewer Water and Leatherhead’s Lemon-Lime Lemonooze were a hit at the party.

For the activities, in addition to a bounce house and the water play area, my hubby made a DIY Pitch Burst game where you have a balloon filled with water, and someone throws a ball to hit the target to burst the water balloon. All of the kids had a BLAST with this game.

You can’t have a birthday party without a pinata! We had a hard time finding a Shredder pinata and when I went to see if I can get a custom one made, they told me it would be too difficult and offered me a Ninja Turtle pinata instead. I knew my son would be disappointed if he had to hit a Ninja Turtle, so what I did was purchase a batman pinata and create my own Shredder. I used a lot of duct tape, cardboard and tissue paper and kind of followed the instructions for a costume found here.

Our final activity for the day was the reptile show that was provided by Jurassic Parties. We learned about all kinds of reptiles and the kids had a chance to touch each one. We were even able to take pictures with our favorite animals at the end!

We made these TMNT cutouts for picture taking. We printed out vinyl banners, cut them out and routed out plywood for the backing. Didn’t really get to use it at the party as I originally planned, but at least I was able to take a nice pic of my son the day after it was all over. I hope Angelo remembers this party forever..I know I sure will (:

You can purchase the (custom) Ninja Turtle Ultimate Party Pack in my shop.

*Budget Friendly Tip: When you’re planning a party, try and pick theme that is related any holidays that occur around the same time of year, and pick a party date AFTER the holiday (even if that means having the birthday a couple of weeks early or even late). For example, for this Shabby Cottage theme, the party date was a week after Easter. I was able to pick up Peeps Chicks and crates of chocolate marshmallow eggs (in the cute Styrofoam egg containers) from Wal-Mart for 75% off the original price. This was a big money saver because bulk candy can be so expensive! I probably would have had a tough time trying to find Peeps any other time of the year. Also, check the expiration date when you purchase clearance candy. Most candy, when stored properly, will last over a year!

We also used Gold Fish and Animal Crackers in keeping with the theme because who says you have to stick to candy for a treat station? Pretzels and potato chips are also good choices for “fillers” at a treat station. Everyone loves that sweet & salty combination, right?

Instead of using a physical photo booth for pictures, we opted for doing a “studio style” photobooth, where all we needed to set up was the backdrop, some chairs, a camera on a tripod and a wireless remote for the camera.